St Peter Chanel

Peter was born in France in 1803 and died  in 1841.
He joined the new Marist order and went as a missionary to the Island of Futuna in the South Pacific.
He struggled to learn the language and had some limited success with some converts.
The local leader Niuliki began to feel jealous of the beginning of  Peter’s success especially when his own son and his friend were baptised.
He arranged for him to be killed.
Eventually after his death the island became Christian.
Peter had a passion for evangelisation from an early age.
He was killed just as things were improving on his mission.
In fact, even his killer himself was converted!
We don’t always see the results of our good work.
Although not always easy, it should be enough for us to be true to our commitments. They are worthwhile in themselves. Evangelisation is about love, and love is about commitment.

Pope Francis has reminded us all about the call for evangelisation. In this post Christian era, we need a second wave of mission and evangelisation using language and reasoning intelligible to our time and culture. So many are not rejecting Christianity but aberrations. They have seen distortions from fundamentalists and bigoted or misinformed rationalists and others.

Like Peter, we may not always see instant results. As St Paul tells us, one plants and other waters, but God brings about the increase!